IOC: CAS has no legal jurisdiction in dispute

Sebastian Coe, the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) holds his hands to his face during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Coe was repeatedly questioned by reporters during the Friday news conference for his thoughts on the BOA going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in its fight with London organizers over its share of Olympic profits. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
— AP

Sebastian Coe, the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) holds his hands to his face during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Coe was repeatedly questioned by reporters during the Friday news conference for his thoughts on the BOA going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in its fight with London organizers over its share of Olympic profits. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
/ AP

IOC (Olympic Organizing Committee) Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald, left, speaks flanked by the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) Sebastian Coe during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Denis Oswald, head of the IOC coordination commission for London, says the body's own ruling in the case should be considered final. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)— AP

IOC (Olympic Organizing Committee) Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald, left, speaks flanked by the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) Sebastian Coe during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Denis Oswald, head of the IOC coordination commission for London, says the body's own ruling in the case should be considered final. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
/ AP

IOC (Olympic Organizing Committee) Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald, left, the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) Sebastian Coe, center, and LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton listen to a journalist's question during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Denis Oswald, head of the IOC coordination commission for London, says the body's own ruling in the case should be considered final. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)— AP

IOC (Olympic Organizing Committee) Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald, left, the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) Sebastian Coe, center, and LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton listen to a journalist's question during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Denis Oswald, head of the IOC coordination commission for London, says the body's own ruling in the case should be considered final. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
/ AP

Sebastian Coe, the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) looks up during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Coe was repeatedly questioned by reporters during the Friday news conference for his thoughts on the BOA going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in its fight with London organizers over its share of Olympic profits. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)— AP

Sebastian Coe, the Chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) looks up during a news conference to mark the end of a visit by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in London, Friday, April 1, 2011. The IOC says the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no legal jurisdiction in the British financial dispute over the 2012 London Olympics. Coe was repeatedly questioned by reporters during the Friday news conference for his thoughts on the BOA going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in its fight with London organizers over its share of Olympic profits. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
/ AP

LONDON 
The sports world's highest court should have no legal jurisdiction in the dispute between British Olympic officials over revenues from the 2012 London Games, the IOC said Friday.

Denis Oswald, head of the IOC's coordination commission for London, said the International Olympic Committee's ruling in the case should be considered final. He said there was no reason for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to hear the British Olympic Association's claim for more money.

Also Friday, London organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe called the BOA's court case "spurious" and said it was "depressing" that the dispute was overshadowing preparations for the games.

The BOA, led by Colin Moynihan, is pushing for a greater share of any surplus from the Olympics. Entitled to a 20 percent cut under a joint marketing agreement signed in 2005, the BOA claims that the potentially money-losing Paralympics should not be taken into account.

The IOC and London organizing committee, known as LOCOG, insist that the cost of both games should be counted, as they have been in the past. The BOA rejected the IOC's ruling last month and took its case to CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland.

CAS hasn't said whether it will hear the case.

"On a purely legal point of view, we feel that CAS has no jurisdiction over the case," Oswald said at the close of a three-day visit to check on Olympic preparations. "The clause in the marketing agreement said every issue should be included and no other court case should be started by one or the other party.

"So based on that, we feel that CAS has no jurisdiction."

Oswald, a Swiss lawyer who has served as a CAS arbitrator, said the IOC will respect any decision made by the court.

"If at the end CAS feel that they do have jurisdiction, then, of course, on the merits we feel we have a very good case," he said. "For us the case is clear. Our role is done."

Coe expressed increasing frustration with the BOA at a news conference dominated by questions about the messy dispute that has ended six years of public harmony in Britain's preparations for the games.

"This is a spurious case," he said. "The legal judgment that the IOC have made is probably the best demolition of that case that we can witness. ... They are the only appropriate organization to adjudicate on that."

There is no guarantee that the Olympics will make a profit, and Coe said his committee's objective is to run a balanced budget.

British Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson rejected the BOA's request this week to help resolve the dispute.

"The government has made its position abundantly clear," Coe said. "The IOC has made its position abundantly clear. We have made our position abundantly clear. I am only saddened at this distraction at a time when our teams across the project are working so cohesively and strategically."

Coe said the BOA's action undermined the vision put forward during London's winning bid of hosting the Olympics and Paralympics together.